So why is it that Starfox's sex-based powers were apparently skeevy to the point that they had to be eliminated, while Spider-Woman's similar power--her pheromones--are not?
For most of Starfox's history, his abilities were fully under his control and used only for good. Yeah, they may have weirded out his colleagues (I recall a scene in an old Avengers book where he assured the Wasp that he would never use his abilities on his friends "unless they ask" :)) but there was never any question of his ethics, until recent issues of She-Hulk made it so. Granted that it turned out that the lack of control was not his fault, but he was still so horrified at what had happened that he was willing to lose those abilities altogether.
Spider-Woman, on the other hand, has never had full control of her pheromone abilities. I vaguely recall that in her first long-ago series the pheromones made most men drawn to her and most women dislike her (I hope they've at least eliminated that second bit). She wore some sort of cologne to cover them up, didn't she? Meaning that having that ability and not having control over it was inconvenient. Yet in New Avengers, when the rest of the team found out about those abilities (after she had used them to distract a villain to the point he could be beaten) they were surprised and relieved because they had all found themselves inexplicably attracted to her! You know, maybe it's just me, but that's the sort of thing that I'd find inconvenient if I were trying to work with people. And it's not as if she's made any effort to amend the situation--up until that point she hadn't even let on to the others that she might be inadvertently affecting their judgment, and as far as I know she has made no effort to fix the problem.
I suppose there's a question as to which would be better. If she suppresses the pheromones, it's better for the group (it's got to be distracting for the others, having that going on) but then she doesn't have that ability to use against villains. On the other hand, it's not as if she was hired for those abilities--no one knew she had them until well into the run of New Avengers. She has plenty more going for her. My own thought would be that she ought to do something about it until such time as she actually has the ability under control. If it's unacceptable for Starfox to go around randomly turning people on, it is for Spider-Woman as well. Isn't it?
3 comments:
Well, the two instances were written by different people so it's possible that only one of them (Slott) felt that they were skeevy and needed to be addressed.
Another difference, at least to me, is that from what I've seen Starfox and Spider-Women apply the powers differently. Starfox uses the control his powers give him to issue commands to people, while Spider-Women just does her thing irregardless and the powers are either a help or a hinderance to her depending on the situation. She reasons with the Wrecker and prolly would have tried to even if she didn't have those powers, but she never said "Kiss me" or "Beat yourself over the head with a pipe" or "Tell me your innermost secrets".
I think part of the difference might be explained by a study I saw played out. In the study, the researchers first had a beautiful, well-dressed woman walk up to a man in a bar and ask him if he’d like to have sex with her. No small talk, no buying of drinks, no flirting, just a direct question about having sex. Everyone of the guys said yes.
The researchers then had a handsome, well-dressed man walk up to a woman in the same bar and ask her if she’d like to have sex also without any of the usual pre-sex activities. Everyone of the women rejected him and all of them were insulted, many got quite angry.
When did the men get angry? When they found out that it was just research and they weren’t going to get laid.
How this might play out with the characters in question is that for Spider-Woman to seduce a man, she’d probably just have to ask anyway. Her power is compelling men to do something they’d probably gleefully do anyway. However, Starfox’s power is making women do something that they would consider to be very much against their wills. For women, the experience would be rape; for men, it would be a dream come true … on average anyway.
Great post you have shared.
Pheromones are chemicals that are secreted in our sweat (and other bodily fluids) that release neurotransmitters that are believed to directly modify the behavior of the opposite sex, such as triggering sexual excitement.
human pheromones
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